Patch Notes: 4.1

24Feb

Here are the patch notes for 4.1 as of today, 02/24/2011. Posting here primarily for those people who cannot view official sites while at work. Taken from MMO-Champion.

Yep guys, the first major content patch of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm is almost completed it’s development stage and we are getting ready to push some early updates onto the Test Realms. So you may ask: What will be there in 4.1 Test Realms (I believe you will do so right?)? So, here it comes!

Remnants of the Gurubashi Tribe
Originally released in Patch 1.7, the classic 20-man raid Zul’Gurub will open its gate once again, bringing new stories, new encounters and fully refined items! Zul’Gurub is now a level-85 Heroic 5-man dungeon, to help the Cataclysm dungeons provide a higher tier of contents. Players may find level 353 epic items in this Heroic dungeon. You have to meet a mininum average item level of 346 to enter it.

The Return of Zul’Aman
The fan-favorite level 70 10-man raid Zul’Aman is also reborn as a level-85 Heroic 5-man dungeon. Zul’Aman and Zul’Gurub will both appear in the Heroic Dungeon list in the LFD tool, providing level 353 epic loot. You also have to meet a mininum average item level of 346 to enter.

Since Zul’Aman is back, you might be curious on whether the rare mounts will be back? Yes, we’re proud to annouce that new rare-drop Raptor, Tiger and Warbear mount will be available, while the old mounts still have their unique beauty in hand. We will share a lot more on obtaining the new mounts.

Class Design
Though we only hope to do a small mount of balance changes in Patch 4.1, you can still expect multiple updates. The following are the ones we currently can share with you. Keep in mind these changes do not reflect all changes in Patch 4.1, and are not promised to be in the early Test Realm updates.

First we want to balance the area attack potentials between different damage dealing talents, you can expect changes regarding this one in the testing phase.

Inner Rage is now trainable at level 56. Originally it was given to solve the rage overflow problems, but it’s not an issue to Warriors these days. We have implemented Warriors a new level 83 ability: Rallying Cry.

Colossus Smash now ignores 70% of target’s armor, down from 100%. We’ll buff the damage of other Fury and Arms damage dealing abilities to compensate that.

Word of Glory: We hope Retribution and Protection Paladins occasionaly do the right healing to others, but as we know Paladins sometimes feel that Holy Power is only for the healing. We rather like these specs use more Holy Power on damage abilities, and occasionally heal.

More to Come
We are still developing more features, updating balace changes and fix bugs for Patch 4.1. We will update the Test Realms in the upcoming days and weeks, and bring you more information on this.

Achievement Changes
Dungeons & Raids
Cataclysm Dungeon
It’s Not Easy Being Green Do not get hit by Bloodvenom, Pool of Acrid Tears, or Venomous Effusion in the High Priest Venoxis encounter in Zul’Gurub on Heroic difficulty.
Gurubashi Headhunter Defeat Gub, Mortaxx, Kaolema, Mor’Lek, the Florawing Hive Queen, a Lost Offspring of Ghaz’Ranka, and the Gurubashi Master Chef in Zul’Gurub on Heroic difficulty.
Tunnel Vision Defeat Halazzi in Zul’Aman on Heroic difficulty without killing any of his totems.

Blacksmithing
Blacksmithing: Elementium Earthguard now gives +170 Strength, down from 190. now gives 117 Mastery Rating, down from 127. now gives 117 Hit Rating, down from 127. Now has a Blue Socket (Socket Bonus: +15 Stamina)
Blacksmithing: Elementium Stormshield now gives +170 Intellect, down from 190. Now gives +122 Spirit, down from 127. Now gives 112 Haste Rating, down from 127. Now has a Red Socket (Socket Bonus: +10 Intellect)

Engineering
Engineering: Cardboard Assassin can now be used once every minute, down from 5 minutes.
Engineering: Synapse Springs now increases your highest primary statistic instead of Intellect.

Inscription
Inscription: Dust of Disappearance now requires 1 Blackfallow Ink, down from 2.

Leatherworking
Leatherworking: Assassin’s Chestplate now gives +321 Agility, down from 341. Now gives 173 Hit Rating, down from 183. Now gives 243 Critical Strike rating, down from 253. Now has a Red Socket (Socket Bonus: +10 Agility)
Leatherworking: Belt of Nefarious Whispers now gives +233 Agility, down from 253. Now gives 174 Hit Rating, down from 184. Now gives 134 Mastery Rating, down from 144. Now has a Red Socket (Socket Bonus: +10 Agility)
Leatherworking: Corded Viper Belt now gives +233 Agility, down from 253. Now gives 159 Critical Strike rating, down from 169. Now gives 159 Mastery rating, down from 169. Now has a Red Socket (Socket Bonus: +10 Agility)
Leatherworking: Dragonkiller Tunic now gives +231 Agility, down from 341. Now gives 249 Haste rating, down from 259. Now gives 163 Mastery rating, down from 173. Now has a Red Socket (Socket Bonus: +10 Agility)

Death Knight (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Skills/Talents)
Frost
Blood of the North now Permanently transforms your Blood Runes into Death Runes. Death Runes count as a Blood, Frost, or Unholy Rune.

Unholy
Dark Transformation now has a 100 yards range, up from 60.
Death’s Advance now prevents movement-impairing effects from reducing you below 60/75% of normal movement speed, down from 75/100%.
Shadow Infusion now increases Ghoul damage by 6%, down from 8%.

Frost
Frostburn now increases your damage against Frozen targets by 5%, down from 20%.

Paladin (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Skills/Talents)
Holy
Divine Light now costs 30% of base mana, down from 33%.
Flash of Light now costs 27% of base mana, down from 30%.
Walk in the Light (Mastery) now removes the cooldown on your Word of Glory.
Word of Glory now has a 20 sec cooldown.
Aura Mastery now improves the effect of Devotion Aura, Resistance Aura, and Retribution Aura instead of all auras.
Conviction now procs from non-periodic spells.

Protection
Divine Guardian now has a 3 min cooldown, up from 2 min.

Retribution
Divine Storm now grants a charge of Holy Power if it hits 4 or more targets.
Sacred Shield now cannot occur more than once every 60 sec, up from 30 sec.

Priest (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Skills/Talents)
Discipline
Absolution (Mastery) *New* – Enables your Dispel Magic spell to be cast on friendly targets to remove 2 harmful magical effects.
Dispel Magic can now only be casted on yourself to remove harmful effects, and now only removes 1 beneficial spell from enemies, down from 2.
Power Word: Shield now costs 34% of base mana, up from 25%. Now lasts 15 sec, down from 30 sec.
Divine Aegis now lasts 15 sec, up from 12 sec.

Subtlety
Stealth now has a 4 sec cooldown. Apparently no longer reduces your speed.
Tricks of the Trade now has a 100 yards range, up from 20 yards.
Nightstalker now increases your speed while stealthed by 5/10%, down from 7/15%. Now reduces the cooldown of Stealth by 2/4 sec, down from 3/6 sec.

Shaman (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Skills/Talents)
Elemental
Earthquake base damage has been reduced by 40%.
Fire Nova now has a 40 yards range, up from 30 yards. Cooldown reduced from 10 sec to 4 sec. Now Ignites your Flame Shock spell on any nearby enemies, causing each of them to emit a wave of flames that deals 647 to 724 Fire damage to every other enemy within 10 yards.
Improved Fire Nova has been replaced with Seasoned Winds – When you successfully prevent an enemy spellcast with Wind Shear or Grounding Totem, you gain [if (PL<=70) then PL else if (PL<=80) then PL+(PL-70)*5 else PL+(PL-70)*5+(PL-80)*7] resistance to that spell's magical school for 10 sec. (PL = Player Level, and if you're wondering, that's basically the same resist aura as any other spell)

Restoration
Purification now increases the effectiveness of healing spells by 25%, up from 10%.

Warlock (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Skills/Talents)
Nothing! But I have a hug for you!

Warrior (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Skills/Talents)
Fury
Intercept now stuns for 1 sec, down from 3 sec.
Whirlwind now has its cooldown reduced by 6 sec. if it deals damage to 4 or more targets.

Arms
Rallying Cry *New* (Level 83) – Temporarily grants you and all party or raid members within 30 yards 20% of maximum health for 10 sec. After the effect expires, the health is lost. 3 min cooldown, Instant
Colossus Smash now bypass 70% of armor instead of 100%.
Mortal Strike now deals 175% weapon damage, up from 150%.
Overpower now deals 145% weapon damage, up from 125%.
Two-Handed Weapon Specialization (Mastery) now increases damage dealt with 2H weapons by 20%, up from 10%.
Improved Hamstring now also reduces the global cooldown of Hamstring by 0.5/1 sec.
Improved Slam now increases Slam's damage by 20/40%, up from 10/20%
Juggernaut now reduces the cooldown of Charge by 3 sec but no longer increases the stun duration.

You lose roughly 20 of the primary stat which you can then replace with a gem that gives you 40-67 of that same stat, so you do get an increase. Whether or not it’s better depends on how critical those other two stats are for your class and whether or not it will balance out for you build. Generally? I’d say it’s worth it.